For the first time ever, astronomers have discovered a vast cloud of high-energy particles called a wind nebula around a rare ultra-magnetic neutron star. A neutron star is the crushed core of a massive star that ran out of fuel, collapsed under its own weight, and exploded as a supernova, which are the strongest magnets in the universe. After reviewing the discovery of a newly found nebula which surrounds a magnetar known as Swift J1834.9-0846, a team researcher George Younes, a postdoctoral researcher at George Washington University in Washington found an unusual lopsided glow about 15 light-years across centered on the magnetar. ...

For the second time in history, astrophysicists have just announced that they have directly detected gravitational waves caused by the collision of two black holes. An Australian team has been analyzing data collected by the two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors in the US that picked up the first historic gravitational wave signal for months ago, and were actually able to watch two black holes orbiting each other 27 times in their last second before colliding. Team member Susan Scott, an astrophysicist from the Australian National University in Canberra said, “This has cemented the age of gravitational wave astronomy. This shows data is...

A new discovery was announced at an astronomical meeting in San Diego revealing that a second pair of black holes that devoured each other 1.4 billion years ago have been detected. The same group of astronomers that produced the first audio of the gravitational-wave chirps, they gathered that in the new merger, the black holes were roughly 14 and 8 times as massive as the sun, circled and combined into a single spinning black hole 21 times as massive as the sun. The collision spilled an amount of energy equivalent to the entire mass of the sun into space-time. Albert...

Tonight On Dark Thirty Radio Images Taken From fMRI’s Produce Portraits From Thoughts Researchers used an incredible new form of functional magnetic resonance imaging pattern analysis which is now being used by computers to predict faces by using data from the memory-centered area of the brain. Hongmi Lee and Brice A. Kuhl from the Kuhl Lab at the University of Oregon studied the area of the brain responsible for processing faces, and stated ‘Recent findings suggest that the contents of memory encoding and retrieval can be decoded from the angular gyrus (ANG), a subregion of posterior lateral parietal cortex. Visually perceived faces...

Tonight On Dark Thirty Radio Chances Of Past Civilizations Having Existed Just Got Higher The probabilistic argument used to arrive at an estimate of the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy was first described in 1960 by American astronomer and astrophysicist, Frank Drake, known as the Drake equation, was giving an new revision by two astronomers and the results are astounding. The University of Washington’s Woody Sullivan and the University of Rochester’s Adam Frank published their assessment in the May issue of Astrobiology and Frank is now in the process of a follow-up for the New York Times...

According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, at the center of a black hole lies a point at which the forces of gravity are at their most intense, and time and space effectively end and based on that theory, if an object approaches the event horizon, it would be crushed in one direction, and stretched in another. However, new research suggests that may not be the case, after all. Now, a team of physists at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, have modeled what would happen to different objects, if each one ended up inside the spherical wormhole of a black hole. Team...

Tonight On Dark Thirty Radio Recently Uploaded Videos Show Two Separate Possessions A woman named Camela can be seen straining back and forth on a stretcher as she is being taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Camela’s eyes can be seen rolling into the back of her head, as a friend, speaking in Spanish tries to calm her, but the most terrifying moment coming as the woman replies in a hoarse voice, that stated “This girl doesn’t exist now. It doesn’t exist.” The demon spirit shakes Camela violently as friends desperately look on, helpless to aid her. No explanation as to...

Since the first direct evidence of gravitational waves was detected earlier this year, two physicists in Spain are now using this discovery to test out the scientific hypothesis of string theory. Gravitational waves are like ripples that expand after a major event in space, such as two black holes merging or the explosion of a massive star and now physicists Isabel Fernandez-Nunez and Oleg Bulashenko of the University of Barcelona are hoping these gravitational waves could help uncover the cosmic strings believed to be incredibly long and thin defects in the curvature of space and time formed right after the...

A new study outlined in Physical Review Letters, now reinforces the theory that black holes are nothing more than an optical illusion. First proposed by physicist Leonard Susskind in the 1990s, the holograph hypothesis predicts that the Universe needs just two dimensions, not three, for the laws of physics and gravity to work as they should. Scientists believe this could actually resolve some big contradictions between Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics which states while ‘nothing can escape a black hole, matter can never be completely destroyed’ Physicists now suggest that the reason they can’t figure out what happens...

Colliding Black Holes Spell Doom for Far-Off Galaxy Here in the Milky Way Galaxy, we spend a great deal of time and energy debating which apocalyptic event will supposedly ‘do us in for good’; however, there are other galaxies with their own doomsday brewing. For example: 3.5 billion light-years away, two supermassive black holes are orbiting so closely to each other it could spell doom for their entire home galaxy, which is located within the Virgo constellation. A Rhythmic Flicker Matthew Graham, a computational astronomer at Caltech, has been tracking “a rhythmic flickering from the galaxy’s nucleus, a quasar known as PG 1302-102,” The...

During a Reddit AmA last week, scientists and researchers working on the Event Horizon Telescope Project (EHT) revealed that Earthlings could finally get a glimpse at the elusive black hole at the center of our own mysterious Milky Way Galaxy as early as 2017. A group of approximately 75 researchers and 9 confirmed radio telescope arrays are being employed around the world for this event. They aim to confirm or deny major theories about Black Holes, including one recently revised by Dr. Stephen Hawking, who now thinks that it may be possible to actually pass particles and wave-forms through the black hole...

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, it’s imperative that you have a plan. If you’re influenced by the movies, then you might be inclined to take your chances and head for the nearest pub or shopping mall in order to outwit a growing horde of bloodthirsty zombies. Your average shopping mall is equipped with all […]

Nobody has ever put a lander on the far side of the Moon before, but China is well on its way to being the first. Over the weekend, the country launched a craft called Queqiao – a satellite that will orbit the Moon to relay messages from the yet-to-be-launched lander, Chang’e-4. The Moon is tidally […]

It only lasted for a savage, fleeting instant, but for 8 intense seconds last week an eagle, a fox, and a rabbit flew across the sky as one. In an incredibly rare scene, photographers have captured the moment a bald eagle swooped down upon a young red fox clutching a rabbit, and in its whirlwind […]

There is something special and awe-inspiring about watching new land form. This is what is now happening in Hawai’i as its Kīlauea volcano erupts. Lava is reaching the ocean and building land while producing spectacular plumes of steam. These eruptions are hugely important for the creation of new land. But they are also dangerous. Where […]

Calling all citizen scientists! A project looking for those dying, exploding stars called supernovae out in deep space is also searching for volunteers to help in the work, and you can get real science credit for it along the way – even if you’ve never done a second of star-gazing before. Astronomers from the Australian National […]

When Jean-Lou Justine received the first photograph of a giant worm with a head like a shovel, the biologist was astounded. Hammerhead flatworms, which grow to a foot or more in length, do not belong in European vegetable gardens. “We do not have that in France,” said Justine, a professor at the National Museum of […]

Astronauts go through many physiological changes during their time in spaceflight, including lower muscle mass and slower muscle development. Similar symptoms can occur in the muscles of people on Earth’s surface, too. In fact, it could affect everyone to some extent later in life. “Age-related skeletal muscle disorders, such as sarcopenia, are becoming a greater […]

Exposure to early life trauma can lead to poor physical and mental health in some individuals, which can be passed on to their children. Studies in mice show that at least some of the effects of stress can be transmitted to offspring via environmentally-induced changes in sperm miRNA levels. A new epigenetics study raises the […]

Most renderings and reconstructions of pterodactyls and other extinct flying reptiles show a flight pose much like that of bats, which fly with their hind limbs splayed wide apart. But a new method for inferring how ancient animals might have moved their joints suggests that pterosaurs probably couldn’t strike that pose. “Most of the work […]

Corals growing in high-latitude reefs in Western Australia can regulate their internal chemistry to promote growth under cooler temperatures, according to new research at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at The University of Western Australia. The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests that ocean warming may […]